The Texans left tackle added a handful more miscues to the pile against Denver
Tunsil is NFL's most penalized player after loss to Broncos
Dec 8, 2019, 2:55 pm
The Texans left tackle added a handful more miscues to the pile against Denver
Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil
The Texans had a terrible day but it was especially rough for left tackle Laremy Tunsil.
Stunt worked on Tunsil and Scharping on third-and-long. Blocked neither of them. pic.twitter.com/N8FJWKs1gz
— Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) December 8, 2019
He started out slow picking up some of the pressure against quarterback Deshaun Watson. That hasn't been constant through the season for the blind side protector. The penalties have been though.
NFLPenalties.com had Tunsil at 13 total penalties with 12 accepted against him on the season. He had nine false starts before the start of the game against the Broncos.
Laremy is at it again. 11. pic.twitter.com/bmLvxwX9kd
— Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) December 8, 2019
He would add three more false starts to the equation against Denver bringing his accepted penalties to 15 making him the most penalized player in football. His false starts alone would rank him tied for third.
The Texans would punt, settle for a field goal, and end the half on the drives where Tunsil was penalized.
Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said it had to be fixed.
"Laremy (Tunsil) has played very well, but he's had a lot of penalties. He'd be the first to tell you that," he said. "We've gotta continue to try to fix it. We've got to continue to try to help him. Nobody feels worse about that than him."
Last season for the Dolphins, Tunsil was penalized just 10 times. In 2018, the Texans also had the most penalized offensive lineman as Julién Davenport led all offensive linemen with 16 penalties. Tunsil's current number of penalties is 16.
This would seem to be not only a Tunsil problem but also a Texans offense problem. They regularly have a player in or near the top ten in offensive line penalties under Bill O'Brien. It would make sense for early season struggles, but this late in the season there shouldn't be issues like this creeping up for a veteran player.
Tunsil explained after the game he felt he was singled out by officials.
Laremy Tunsil on false starts: "Just got a target on my back ... I've been called too many times ... They said I was leaving early. Target on my back, like I said, keep it simple like that. Next question." pic.twitter.com/SsPPzfmutX
— Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) December 8, 2019
Gunnar Henderson and Luis Vázquez homered and Trevor Rogers worked seven strong innings as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Houston Astros 3-2 on Sunday to avoid a series sweep.
Rogers (7-2) allowed five hits and three walks and struck out nine. The 27-year-old left-hander moved past two Hall of Famers with his 1.40 ERA through the first 13 starts of a season. Hoyt Wilhelm set the club record with a 1.50 ERA in 1959, and was followed by Jim Palmer’s 1.55 ERA in 1975.Keegan Akin struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings for his third save.
Henderson hit his 16th homer, a solo shot off Spencer Arrighetti (1-5) in the first, to give Baltimore the lead. Ryan Mountcastle had an RBI single in the sixth and Vázquez made it 3-1 in the seventh with his first big league homer.
Arrighetti gave up two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. John Rooney relieved Arrighetti in his debut and allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings. Craig Kimbrel struck out two in a scoreless inning in his first game with the Astros.
Jeremy Peña had an RBI single in the third and Victor Caratini drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth for Houston.
Akin entered with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh and allowed only the sac fly to preserve the lead.
Arrighetti retired 15 batters in a row following his four-hit first inning.
Tomoyuki Sugano (10-5, 3.97) gets the start for the Orioles in a home series opener against the Red Sox on Monday.
The Astros turn to Hunter Brown (10-5, 2.36) to lead off a series against the Rockies on Tuesday.